City unfairly targets Club Ice, owner says

Monday

Jan 11, 2010 at 12:01 AMJan 11, 2010 at 2:15 PM

Soon after the New Year's Eve party at Club Ice ended, the gunfire began.

Soon after the New Year's Eve party at Club Ice ended, the gunfire began.

Three people were shot about 3 a.m. on New Year's Day in a parking lot outside the Downtown club at 40 E. Long St. Police arrested a 20-year-old East Side man and charged him with four counts of felonious assault.

The violence occurred less than a month after Columbus officials notified the owner of the club that they had asked the Ohio Division of Liquor Control to revoke its liquor license.

"In a bigger sense, to the extent a club like this leaves a negative impression of Downtown, it affects people's willingness to live Downtown," said Cleve Ricksecker, who leads the Capital Crossroads Special Improvement District.

Club Ice owner Kevin Hightower said his club shouldn't be blamed for what happens after hours, such as the violence early New Year's Day.

"We've been unfairly targeted," he said yesterday.

Club Ice is one of 13 clubs, bars and carryouts that the city wants to have stripped of their liquor licenses. The city is going after Club Ice for the same reason it's going after the others: Officials think they have a strong enough case after hearing from city departments and residents, Assistant City Attorney Natalia Harris said.

Last year, police went to the club 111 times on calls that included a shooting, five reports of patrons with guns and four assaults. That was the second-highest number of police runs on the city's liquor-license hit list; the East Side's Aruba Club was the destination of 138 runs. No other Downtown club was on the city's latest list.

About 5,600 people call Downtown home, including Mayor Michael B. Coleman, who recently moved to the Sixty Spring building. That complex, residents say, was struck by a bullet after a fight spilled out of Club Ice last summer.

"We've replaced at least two windows with bullet holes," said Carl Faehnle, who manages the building at 60 E. Spring St. for Kohr Royer Griffith. "It's a horrible situation. You've got a community of people who want a better Downtown. It just doesn't fit."

Dawon Hawkins, president of the Sixty Spring condominium association, said residents have asked for full-time security.

In a letter to the city in August, the Downtown Residents' Association of Columbus objected to having the state renew Club Ice's liquor license; it cited noise, fights and gunshots.

Many of the problems seem to occur after closing, said Kevin Wood, past president of the association and president of the condominium association at Exchange Urban Lofts at 110 N. 3rd St.

Stephen Young, who owns the building where Club Ice is housed, said he has been happy with Hightower.

Hightower said he hires special-duty police officers to provide security in addition to the dozen or so in-house security staff members.

"We do a lot to make sure we provide a safe environment," he said.

Young said false security alarms can trigger police runs. And he said no one knows where the bullet that struck Sixty Spring was fired from. "They assumed it was (from) here," he said.

Harris said the city considers the bar a drain on police resources that could be focused elsewhere.

One Downtown trouble spot closed last year. In May, the Division of Liquor Control pulled the license at Club Static, 283 E. Spring St., citing a history of gunshots, fights and crowd-control problems.

The city filed a nuisance action, and a judge ordered the club closed, Harris said.

Club Ice and Club Fire next door opened in 2006. The owners spent $160,000 to remodel the Long Street Live Entertainment Complex.